1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a printed fabric for applying a printed fabric pattern to an object and a method for making the printed fabric.
2. Background Art
The art of applying a printed fabric or an applique onto an object, such as a garment, has been done and continues to be improved. There are several ways known in the art of manufacturing and applying an applique to a garment. However, the industry has shown a need to provide a more cost and time effective applique and a way of making the applique without sacrificing the aesthetic value or materials thereof.
For example, an applique may be a laminate having a top layer and a bottom layer attached onto each other. The bottom layer may have an adhesive which may be applied onto a garment with heat or pressure. When applied onto the garment, the applique provides an appearance of stitching or embroidery of the applique onto the garment. In many situations, the cost and time effectiveness of attaching the layers together may be improved.
Some appliques are single layered having printed designs thereon. Such appliques are directly applied onto a garment, but in most situations do not provide an industry acceptable appearance of a laminate embroidered onto the garment.
The industry has also shown a need to improve ways of making printed fabrics, e.g. screen printed twills, which are to be applied onto garments. Currently, manufacturers of such printed fabrics are challenged due to mis-accounted shrinkage of the printed fabrics during a typical step of drying. In many situations, manufacturers must account for shrinkage of a printed fabric when the printed fabric is dried. Giving the various parameters such as temperature, time, materials, shrinkage calculations are not always exact. In many situations, this results in cutting dried printed fabric slightly in error. In turn, such fabrics are discarded, thereby increasing costs and production time.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a more cost and time effective way of making an applique without sacrificing the aesthetic appearance of stitching or embroidery of the applique onto a garment.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an applique which is single layered and provides an appearance of stitching of a plurality of fabric layers.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a single layered printed fabric for applying a printed fabric pattern to an object. The printed fabric has a predetermined shape corresponding to the printed fabric pattern. The printed fabric comprises first and second portions disposed adjacent each other. The printed fabric further comprises a third portion printed on the first and second portions, wherein the third portion represents a simulated stitch attaching the first portion to the second portion. The fabric further comprises a fourth portion printed on the first portion, wherein the fourth portion represents a simulated stitch hole to simulate an appearance of a hole through which the stitch disposes to simulate an appearance that the first portion is a top layer stitched onto the second portion which is a bottom layer.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method of making an applique for applying a printed fabric pattern to an object. The method comprises providing an unprinted substrate for printing a design thereon, and cutting the unprinted substrate to form a predetermined shape corresponding to the fabric pattern and to form a registration hole on the substrate. The method further comprises printing the fabric pattern on the unprinted substrate having the predetermined shape to define a printed substrate having the printed fabric pattern, and drying the printed substrate at a predetermined temperature and time period.